We would like to thank the All Saints' `Ohana for the Christmas gifts, the delicious goodies, the fellowship, and the well-wishes during the holidays, and on our anniversary. Your generosity has deeply touched our hearts and made our celebrations joyous."

Mahalo,

Father David and Susan

To enjoy a slideshow of the Christmas Eve Family Service and Rectory Open House and Potluck, please click on the video link below.

Aloha and Happy New Year to Our

All Saints’ `Ohana!

﻿From Your Senior Warden, David Murray

﻿2020 is going to be an exciting year for All Saints’ Episcopal Church and Preschool. On February 1st our new minister, Fr. David Jackson (aka Kahu Kawika), takes the helm at the church, leading us on to our 100th anniversary in 2025. Exciting times indeed!

We also have a number of vacancies on the Vestry and are looking for people to get involved. And, what better time than this?!

As we recruit new members to our Vestry we want to focus for a moment on the duties and responsibilities of a Vestry member.

It is my belief that Vestry service needs to be personally fulfilling, life giving and fun. To serve on the Vestry is both an amazing opportunity and a significant privilege. While it is an honor to be elected to serve on Vestry, the role is not an honorary position—it comes with expectations and responsibilities.

Those who serve on the Vestry of All Saints’ are expected to participate in the broad life of our church. Regular attendance at worship services and Vestry meetings is the cornerstone of a Vestry member’s duties. In addition, Vestry members will be called upon to exercise servant leadership by example and by participating in both the business and spiritual life of the church.

The Vestry welcomes and thrives on diversity in background, skills, and experience and there is no one set of qualifications that make a person an excellent candidate. It is important for us to have new ideas, new perspectives, and new views as we discuss issues and make decisions.

You will by now have received an email from me with an application form attached. I ask you to think seriously as you look at the possibility of joining the Vestry and influencing the future of our church.

Not happy with the way things are going? Join the Vestry – you can make a difference!

Want to influence the future of our church? Join the Vestry – you can make a difference!

Concerned that we don’t do enough in terms of outreach? Join the Vestry – you can make a difference!

Want to work with a new minister to give new life to our church? Join the Vestry – you can make a difference!

Join the Vestry and make a difference in the lives of our congregation.

I look forward to working with you!

With warmest aloha and my sincere best wishes for a wonderful year ahead for you, your families and our church `Ohana.

Click on this link to download the e-Program for use during the service.

See below.

As more of our congregation uses the e-Program, All Saints’ can print fewer service bulletins and use less printer ink and paper. As important as the cost savings is the reduced environmental impact. The production of printer ink and paper are a consideration as is the shipping of reams of paper when considering the carbon footprint of our service program.

Let’s work together to create a more environmentally sustainable future for All Saints’.

-CeCe Caldwell for Environmental Stewardship

THE CATECHISM

Offered in a question-and-answer format, the Catechism found in the back of The Book of Common Prayer (pp. 845-862) helps teach the essential truths of the Christian faith and how Episcopalians live those truths. It is also intentionally organized so as to “provide a brief summary of the Church’s teaching for an inquiring stranger who picks up a Prayer Book,” with headings such as Human Nature, God the Father, The Old Covenant, The Ten Commandments, Sin and Redemption, God the Son, The New Covenant, The Creeds, The Holy Spirit, The Holy Scriptures, The Church, The Ministry, Prayer and Worship, The Sacraments, Holy Baptism, The Holy Eucharist, Other Sacramental Rites, and The Christian Hope.

THE EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE

Episcopal and Jewish Congregations Celebrate 15 Years of Shared Spiritual Home in Boston

[Diocese of Massachusetts] As the Advent season anticipates Christmas, Emmanuel Church in Boston is preparing to fill its pews with people celebrating the birth of Christ. Central Reform Temple — a Jewish congregation that calls Emmanuel Church home — is preparing to fill those same pews with people celebrating Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. During these services, members of the Emmanuel Church congregation will serve as ushers for the Central Reform Temple, and members of the temple’s congregation will serve as ushers for Emmanuel.

This interfaith family began when the previous rector of Emmanuel Church, the Rev. Bill Blaine-Wallace, met Rabbi Howard Berman while working together as part of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in Massachusetts. In 2004, Berman had just co-founded a progressive Jewish congregation and it was in need of worship space, so Blaine-Wallace offered use of Emmanuel Church to the congregation, Boston Jewish Spirit, which would later become Central Reform Temple.

Since then, the two congregations have gone beyond sharing facilities to sharing their faith journeys together through collaborative programming, which they facilitate through the Emmanuel Center, the programmatic partnership of Central Reform Temple and Emmanuel Church.

Most recently, the two congregations collaborated with the Cathedral Church of St. Paul and Dar-Al Islam — which hosts Jum’ah Muslim Prayer in the cathedral each Friday — on the interfaith art exhibit “Abraham: Out of One, Many” that was on display at the cathedral until recently. Leaders from all four groups met regularly together as part of the interfaith planning team leading up to the exhibition’s opening in October.

The relationship between the congregations is expressed in unexpected ways, such as the presence of Emmanuel’s current rector, the Rev. Pam Werntz, at the altar during important Jewish services, as well as Berman’s role as rabbi-in-residence at Emmanuel Church, regularly preaching to the Sunday congregation. The ark containing the Torah scrolls is prominently housed at the front of the church; behind the altar is a carved screen depicting the Last Supper, as well as a large carving of Jesus with his arms open in welcome.

“From the beginning, we at the temple have felt that the church’s welcome to us was a very authentic one and an unconditional one, and we in turn were able to feel unconditionally at home within a very Christian worship space,” Berman said in an interview. “We’ve been able to process our own relationship to the spaces and the symbolisms in a very positive way, as have the Emmanuel members in terms of the presence of our Jewish symbols within the sanctuary.”

“I think what we’ve been able to do is to understand that the side-by-side visual impact of both symbols is not a syncretistic one, to use a theological term. It’s not a matter of eliminating the differences or blending them into one; they stand fully with their own integrity,” Berman said. “For us, we can understand and emphasize the historic Jewish context of the Christian symbolisms, and for Emmanuel, our symbols are inseparably part of their spiritual heritage anyway, so it’s seeing the fullness of the background and roots of their own Christian faith.”

Over the years, leaders from the congregations discussed the idea of a covenant statement that would document and preserve the unique relationship between the two congregations now and for the future.

A document had yet to be drafted when Werntz was traveling on her sabbatical in 2018 and landed in Vienna, Austria, to news of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. During her sabbatical, Werntz had visited archaeological digs and museums and viewed evidence that testified to good relationships between Jews, Christians and Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula, and she found that the news of the Pittsburgh tragedy — coupled with her recent travels — stirred her to begin drafting a covenant.

“There was something about the trip and seeing the archaeological evidence of good relationships, while also knowing the history of the terrible things that, for the most part, Christians have done,” Werntz said. “I felt that there was an urgency to add to that body of evidence and to tell our story about the last 15 years.”

Upon her return, Werntz began drafting a document, and — after input from the leadership of both congregations — a covenant statement was finalized and signed this past July as a declaration of the two congregations’ commitment to a shared life together.

“As partners in a covenant relationship, each of our congregations is faithfully rooted in its distinct religious traditions and deeply committed to our shared spiritual roots,” the covenant reads. “We practice modeling compassionate encounters between Judaism and Christianity that affirm the difficult challenges of history and aspire to new levels of understanding.”

Berman emphasized that much of the Emmanuel-Central Reform Temple relationship is filtered through the lens of the current climates of the country and the world, with regard to the polarization and conflict between different communities.

“[The covenant] puts into sharp focus the alternative vision that what we’re doing offers, and I think to emphasize commonalities, to build on those, is a very important mandate for this period of time,” Berman said. “The main points of the covenant itself really raise up the issues of both being firmly grounded in our own respective traditions in a confident and secure way that enables us to be open to emphasizing the similarities and shared values and ideals; but also, being able to articulate and embrace the points of divergence and difference and be able to constructively, lovingly and respectfully discuss them.”

During the ceremony of affirmation at Emmanuel’s Sunday morning Eucharist on Nov. 17, the Jewish Ark containing the Torah scrolls was left open. Photo: Emmanuel Church

Over the weekend of Nov. 15-17, the two congregations held ceremonies of affirmation during the Friday evening Shabbat service and the Sunday morning Eucharist, to raise up and celebrate the covenant agreement. As part of the ceremony, leaders from both congregations read the covenant statement aloud and lit a unity candle together: Berman held a flame from one of the temple’s Shabbat candles and Werntz held a flame from Emmanuel’s Paschal candle, and they used their individual candles to light a single pillar candle, together.

“As these candles have combined to create greater light from two different sources, may our coming together in this sacred place, give light to all who come into this house in search of faith and love, justice and peace,” the congregations prayed during the ceremony. “May our life together here inspire us, and all who behold us, to work to kindle the light of compassion and hope in the midst of the darkness of our world.”

Both Berman and Werntz hope that their congregations’ covenant agreement can be used as a guideline for others who may want to enter into similar interfaith relationships.

“It’s just a really beautiful, gracious, grace-filled relationship and we want our light to shine beyond 15 Newbury Street,” Werntz said. “It’s the most rewarding thing that we in the congregation have done in the last 15 years, but to work across cultural and religious differences is very hard. It takes time and patience and understanding and goodwill — and it’s absolutely worth every minute of that work.”

[ACNS, by Rachel Farmer] A new mobile app has been launched by the Church of Uganda to help young people avoid falling into human trafficking when they seek work abroad.

The new free app called ‘Just Good Work’, developed by clergyman Paul Davis, was commended by the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali, when he was given a presentation by the developers this week.

Archbishop Ntagali had warned against the increasing cases of human trafficking over the past few years.

“I have always spoken very powerfully against our children being trafficked but there seems not to be strict measures put in place to curb this inhuman tendency in some of the recruitment agencies,” the Archbishop said.

He said high levels of unemployment within the country had created desperate tendencies among some young people, tempting them to go for undefined job opportunities.

“We have very many highly educated people, both young and old, with good grades and qualifications but without jobs. They are susceptible to being wooed to unclear job opportunities abroad and end up in the hands of the wrong people who turn them into slaves,” he said.

The Archbishop said the development of the ‘Just Good Work’ app, will enable Ugandans to have critical information on working abroad in their own language.

Director for Mission for the Anglican Communion, John Kafwanka, who has supported the development and implementation of the app said: “‘Just Good Work’ is a tool that will help prospecting migrants to avoid falling into pitfalls many have and continue to find themselves in. It will enable users to make informed decisions before they leave their home countries, including knowing where they can seek help and support should they find themselves in employment difficulties.

“There are many unscrupulous employment agents, whose aim is to make money through desperate people wanting employment outside their countries. It is part of our Christian discipleship to ensure no one is exploited by anyone else, and that human dignity is fostered.”

The Provincial Secretary of the Church of Uganda, Canon Captain William Ongeng applauded the team for choosing the Church of Uganda to be at the forefront in advocating the use of the new app and providing relevant information.

“This app is standing in the gap for the Church of Uganda to make sure that these opportunities are known to families to help them make informed decisions before they sell off their land and other properties to support their children to go abroad for jobs they are not sure of” he said.

According to Paul Davis, the app was created primarily to act as a tool for information, pastoral care, prayer, teaching and community empowerment.

“We are not telling people what to do but giving them information to guide their decisions. Behind the app, there is the gospel, the gospel of truth. The Bible says, my people are dying because of lack of knowledge. We only want our people to make better decisions,” he said.

John Kafwanka said the idea to develop the app came from vast experiences he had encountered with meeting many people who were heading to foreign countries for jobs and destinations they had no idea about and several stories about human trafficking in Uganda.

The app was launched during the Provincial Annual Youths and Students Convention at Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono this week, when some 800 young people, most of whom hope to work abroad, listened to the presentations.

EPIPHANY

﻿January 6, 2020

Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ to the peoples of the earth. The winter solstice was kept on Jan. 6 at some places during the first centuries of the Christian Era. In opposition to pagan festivals, Christians chose this day to celebrate the various manifestations, or "epiphanies," of Jesus' divinity. These showings of his divinity included his birth, the coming of the Magi, his baptism, and the Wedding at Cana where he miraculously changed water into wine. The day was called "The Feast of Lights." Celebration of the Son of God replaced celebration of the sun. Baptisms were done, and a season of preparation was instituted. It was later called Advent.

The solstice was kept on Dec. 25 by the fourth century. Jesus' birth was celebrated on this day in both eastern and western churches. The western church commemorated the coming of the Magi on Jan. 6. The eastern church continued to celebrate the Baptism of our Lord and the Wedding at Cana on Jan. 6. In the east the day was called "Theophany" (manifestation of God).

The coming of the Magi is celebrated on the Feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, in the BCP. The Baptism of our Lord is celebrated on the First Sunday after the Epiphany.

Welcome to January 2, 2020. It’s the turning of a new year. It’s the turning of a new decade, on a gorgeous blue planet turning on its axis while turning from the winter solstice toward lengthening days as we travel around the sun. It’s no surprise, then, that this is a time of year for us to consider turning in our own lives. And so, on this day, while those New Year’s resolutions remain shiny and relatively untested, may we consider the ways in which we can turn in our own lives.

Whenever you have a need for support, please call (650) 691-8104 and leave a voice mail. The system will immediately forward the information to the Pastoral Care Committee who will respond to each request. If you prefer, you may send an electronic pastoral care request via email topastoralcare@allsaintskauai.org.

PRAYER CHAIN MINISTRY

Individuals who want to participate in the Prayer Chain Ministry must re-enroll to continue receiving the email communications. To re-enroll, please visit the newly establishedPastoral Care web page or contact the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

SUBMITTING A PRAYER REQUEST

Prayer requests will now besubmitted onlineor by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Names can be added to the Prayers of the People petitions by using the Prayer Chain Request form or by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267. Names will remain in the Prayers of the People for a maximum of four Sundays before a name must be resubmitted.

HOME COMMUNION FOR SICK AND SHUT-INS

All Saints' Eucharistic Visitors are available each Sunday (pending availability) to bring Communion to those who are sick or shut-in. Requests for a Eucharistic visitation can be made by calling the Church Office at (808) 822-4267 or emailinghomecommunion@allsaintskauai.org.

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